Life’s Lessons for My Children

I was taught in my childhood by parents, in love,

Of a gift that was sent from heaven above;

Offered nigh two thousand years ago.

Thus, I first learned of Atonement.

 

With innocent mind my trust I gave

That One had come whose power would save.

Thus, as a child I began to know

Of the wondrous gift of Atonement.

 

When Nan passed away, with words loving-spoken

I was taught that through Christ death’s bands had been broken.

Thus, my parents comforted me so

With the knowledge of the Atonement.

 

As I grew into youth and thought for myself,

I took down the scriptures from my bedroom bookshelf.

Thus, read on my own what had been taught to me.

Yes, read for myself of Atonement.

 

I prayed to know, of my Father above,

If these scriptures were true: for if true, they were love.

Thus, I gained real testimony

Of the scriptures that spoke of Atonement.

 

My parents, and teachers at Church who I knew

Continued to say they believed it was true.

Thus, their faith I began to see

Was in the truth of the Atonement.

 

In my twenties I left for a distant land;

Travelling and living alone I planned.

Thus, more than ever I needed to feel

The comfort of the Atonement.

 

But as a young man who knew quite a lot,

I oft missed the point of redemption’s great cost.

Thus, I didn’t quite see how Christ to me would reveal

The blessings of His Atonement.

 

Still, I believed that because of Christ’s pain

Though a sinner, I could be clean once again.

Thus, in prayer I continued to kneel

And believe in the Atonement.

 

With a beautiful young woman, marriage then came;

Together we sought to take His name.

Thus, hand-in-hand we learned once more

Of the infinite Atonement.

 

With marriage’s bliss, also came more of life’s briers;

For we all must pass the refiner’s fires.

Thus, trials they came; heartstrings they tore,

Enduring through the Atonement.

 

And having endured some of life’s quiet storms

I see His past help, through mortality’s thorns.

Thus, my faith in Him is increasingly sure;

Endowed through the Atonement.

 

Now years down the line, with children bestowed

Life’s hardships continue, but I can say that I know.

Thus, power can come to you and to me

Through the beautiful Atonement.

 

Yes, sins and death Christ overcame,

But the power to endure also comes through His name.

Thus, all of life’s chains He can break, to set free

Through the strength of the Atonement.

 

Whatever the pains and sorrows we go through,

Of this I am certain – He has borne them too.

Thus, through my trials I’ve been able to see

The love in the Atonement.

 

And as with my parents all those years ago,

I now teach my children that they too may know.

I pray that their faith each year will grow,

So that they too will feel

His arm revealed:

The power of Christ’s Atonement.

 

By Jeffrey Collyer